Liputan6.com, Jakarta In the program 'The Ambassador', the crew of Liputan6.com took the opportunity to visit the Azerbaijan Embassy located in Kuningan and met with Mr. Tamerlan Qarayev to discuss a number of issues surrounding the topics of bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Azerbaijan, the Khojaly Massacre, its troubled relationship with Armenia and many other light issues that are equally informative.
As the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Indonesia, Mr. Tamerlan vividly portrayed the conviviality and kind nature of Azerbaijani. He greeted the Liputan6.com crew with such humble welcome and his warm welcome was extended as he served the team with mouth-watering snacks to accompany the discussions.
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In the special interview with Liputan6.com, Mr. Tamerlan expressed his admiration towards the friendliness of Indonesian people and how the smiles on their faces reveal the true nature of Indonesian character. "Indonesian people are nice and they smile a lot too," he said.
Little that many people know, Azerbaijan is the number two biggest oil supplier to Indonesia. Just second to Saudi Arabia as oil supplier, Azerbaijan holds the important asset that is now facilitating the lives of many individuals in Indonesia. The relationship in this particular sector makes the linkage between the two nations much more tightened as oil is an important aspect that keeps the economy progressing.
Mr. Tamerlan continued as spoke about the similarities shared between Indonesia and Azerbaijan. He thinks the both countries share similarities in so many ways. The first one is the fact that mostly Muslim population dominates both countries. This means, in the future, there could be enhanced relationship in this particular arena to strengthen the religion’s platform within both countries. What is more astonishing, even though the two nations are dominated by Muslim population, both countries successfully adapted the culture of living next to each other with people from differing religious background. Both in Indonesia and Azerbaijan, there are many individuals with differing beliefs, but they can live next to each other peacefully and respect the notion to coexistence.
Mr. Tamerlan also added, apart from religious similarity, he thinks both countries are equally secular and accepts multi- ethnical people from various background. This is an important aspect in a democratic country.
"Indonesia and Azerbaijan are both secular countries," Mr. Tamerlan said.
In the midst of discussing the similarity between both nations, Mr. Tamerlan mentioned his adoration about the Indonesian economy that is growing faster as it is being reflected on the social classes present. He thinks that Indonesian economy is going in the right direction with the very strong middle class. He took an example of the large quantity of people using motorcycles everywhere he goes and public transportation instead of luxurious four-wheeled vehicles.
"Indonesia has a very strong middle-class. This means the Indonesian economy goes in the right way," Mr. Tamerlan admitted.
He then moved on to the next more sacred topic involving the conflict that arose between the nation and Armenia 20 years ago. A slight discomfort was evident as Liputan6.com questioned this particular issue.
"The Khojaly situation was a painful period of our lives. It was a crime against humanity. A genocide or mass killing performed by the Armenian as they took away the lives of Muslim Azerbaijani," he shared.
Mr. Tamerlan said there have been several efforts being exerted to reconcile both nations and to come to a peaceful end. However, he also pointed out that such matter is not as easy as being said.
"We have asked for the Armenian troops to withdraw from the occupational territory since it is our land. Ofcourse, the Armenian citizens can stay. But apparently their ambition is different to ours," he continued.
Mr. Tamerlan further explained how the situation back then was not particularly promising with Azerbaijan just freshly acquired independence shortly after the dissolution of Soviet Union.
"It was hard because we just freshly claimed independence from the Soviet Union. We had no army and the economy was still unstable," he added.
The discussions with Mr. Tamerlan Qarayev covered many topics and both parties were certainly delighted to have the opportunity to meet with each other. Starting with lighter issues such as his impressions towards Indonesia, coming down to the more serious political issues, the special interview with Mr. Tamerlan Qarayev is one informatively worth- remembering for. (Akp/Ein)
